Part 5 - Impermanence

We're here. We're gone. We know this, but it still hurts.

The evening prior, a madman took aim 32 floors above and extinguished more than 50 lives, injured over 300, and ruined/altered the lives of countless others.

I have become comfortable with the idea of impermanence. I know, full well and with my whole being, that we have this moment and nothing else. Yesterday is a yellow paperback novel. No need to go back and re-read. The future is - well, it's not there. Today, this hour, this moment: we have that.

Still, my heart breaks for the lives taken. My heart breaks for the physical healing to come. My heart breaks for the anger, hatred, and vitriol that seems to define this time in history.

Yes, all is impermanence. The river is everywhere at the same time. But sometimes a thing is just too catastrophic to wrap our minds around and the sense of loss is immense.

Today is new. This moment is what we have. As Kurt Vonnegut would say:

There's only one rule that I know of, babies - God damn it - you've got to be kind.